Gu Cheng kissed the top of her head and then leaned his cheek against it. "You mentioned that phrase before. What are you referring to?"

"You mean tropes? Does that word not exist in your world?"

"Not the way that you are using it, I don't believe so."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize. So much is similar between our universes. A trope in stories is an idea that is used over and over,usually because it is immensely popular. Stories in my world that were inspired by yours were often romance stories. There was a cold, emotionless man,always someone very, very powerful like a movie emperor or a CEO. He is far too young to be in his position, but he is prodigiously talented and intelligent. He hates women, or he hated being touched or something along those lines and has a questionable personality to explain how he is single despite being so desirable . Then he meets, or re-meets, the plucky female lead who talks back to him, and he becomes intrigued by her."

"I didn't think of you as plucky. I thought of you as annoying."

Zaria giggled, covering her mouth to stifle it. "They were just stories. In your world, powerful men ARE cold, but I know now it is a literal cold, a side effect of the magic. The people who were first inspired to write romance based off of your world may have seen someone shiver when a powerful person was angry and took it to mean they were so powerful that their emotions could make others afraid, or something. I don't know."

"The second world on my own," she swallowed back the knot that was forming in her throat. "The second world inspired a lot of romance novels as well. There were direct interpretations, a curse individual is nursed back to health, or de cursed, by a plucky or kind-hearted young girl. Could have been a maid, or a young noblewoman, or even a reluctant fiance. I doubt that was the only trope that sprung from that world, but that was the one I ended up in the middle of. I was still certain that I knew what was happening in that world, so I went along with it all. His reluctant fiance was coming, and I would be able to step aside and move on..."

She cleared her throat. "The next world heavily inspired horror writers and artists in my world. Zombies. Scary stuff. Death is death in my world. Something that can keep living past death... but there were dinosaurs there, too! So definitely different from anything I ever read or saw!"

They laid quietly together for a few minutes before she felt up to continuing. "So a trope is an idea that is turned into stories over and over again because the idea is very popular. And every world I have entered, even the first volcano one, has inspired stories in my world that plucked at the imaginations of thousands, millions even. And then there is this world, a world of vampires and werewolves. Besides the horror stories, there are many many romance stories for young adults and older adults. Were they all inspired by this world? How much of them were? Is this world more like the ones with lots of sex and violence? Or will it be closer to the lovestruck teenagers trying to prove that the adults are wrong and love conquers all?"

In the room next door, they could hear the excited voices of two teenage boys who had figured out that they didn't need to stay quiet to keep the zombies away. It only lasted a moment before it was silent once more, except for the sound of a large truck passing outside on the street.

"I wish I could say something that would help." Gu Cheng finished rubbing her arm and moved his hand up to play with her hair, smoothing it back from her face. "It seems like all the worlds that you have been in have been very different than the stories that were inspired by them. Maybe this world will be the same."

"I have no doubt that it will," she said, her mouth twisting in a yawn. "But for the better or worse?"

********

There were no alarms to wake everyone. All but Sensei had been accustomed to being awake and doing their tasks by no later than 8 am every day. The staggered time between worlds made it so that everyone was awake later than they were accustomed to. Still, they all woke around the same time and, after another round of showers, shuffled out to the kitchen for breakfast. Gu Cheng and Yamada were already in the kitchen when Zaria arrived. They were looking around as though confused.

"What's going on, guys?"

"We can't figure out how they cook things? You don't think they eat everything...raw...do you?" Yamada looked a little green around the edges.

"The skewers last night were not raw, so I don't think so."

"Oh yeah..."

They eventually found a button that slid part of the countertop up and to the side, exposing holes leading down into what looked like metal pipes. Gu Cheng forbade anyone from attempting to figure out how everything worked until they could ask someone. With the mostly fresh bread delivered the night before, along with some leftover meat from dinner, their breakfast was still amazing compared to what they were used to.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Can we go out to that park across the street? Do you think it's safe?" Hideki, Yamada, and Rika all looked at Zaria with large pleading eyes.

Her smile was natural as she answered. "We haven't been told the ins and outs of this world yet, but as long as you keep to yourselves, I don't see why not! Why don't we all go, I would love to be outside and not scared of everything, just for a change of pace."

Zaria looked to Gu Cheng, smiling tentatively. He nodded and helped her clean up before digging through the bags back in their room to see if there was any clothing that would be more suited to the current weather outside.

Each bag had a variation of the same thing. There were two pairs of dark denim pants, similar in construction to the jeans that they were all used to, but without the double lined seams and rivets. Two long sleeved tops in eye searing shades of blues and greens and undergarments that looked at least familiar enough to figure out what they were. A flat package at the bottom of the bag came out last, and when opened, it expanded to a light weight, quilted coat.

"Oooo," Zaria breathed out, running her the zipper up and down like a child. "I have a coat! And it is a real proper coat, not covered in duct tape!" She grimaced as she thought back to the leather coat that was left behind in the house of the dead. It had served its purpose, but she hadn't wanted to see it ever again.

"It looks... interesting," Gu Cheng remarked, not entirely focused on her words. In his hand, a fluorescent yellow coat was being held up and at a distance. He finally tore his eyes away to see Zaria bouncing on the balls of her feet while fiddling with the zipper on a matching yellow coat. "You look adorable."

"What?" Her hands paused mid zip as she realized he was not only speaking to her but not putting on his own coat. "Ooo, we will match! Couples coats!"

Her body stilled as she finally noticed that he was holding the coat as though it were a dead animal. "We can ask someone else if they want to switch coats with you? Or we can exchange it, Cathy said, if you don't like it..."

"Mmm," he responded, pushing his arms into the holes. "Couples coats."

Zaria fiddled with the slider of her zipper and shifted from side to side. "Gu Cheng, you don't have to force yourself to wear it, really. We can find something else..."

"No, this is fine." He held out his hand until she took it, squeezing it lightly until she met his gaze. "I like the idea of wearing the same thing as you."

The air in the room seemed to still, time stopping as he leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "It let's everyone know that you are my woman, and I'm your man."

Zaria jerked her hand away and rushed out of the room, feeling as though her hair were going to catch fire from the heat her face was putting off. The others were waiting at the door, their new coats on and hesitantly happy smiles on their faces. Bright pink, blue, and green made them seem as though they were bioluminescent, glowing in an already bright and sunny room. "You all look so warm," she called out, clearing her throat first and pretending that nothing had happened just moments before. She consciously avoided Gu Cheng's gaze as he entered the room and concentrated whole-heartedly on putting her ill-fitting shoes on her feet.

"Miss Joseph, perhaps we can ask if someone could help us find some new shoes for you?" Rika was watching as Zaria tightened her shoelaces as tight as they would go to keep her feet snug inside. Before she could argue that it was not necessary, Rika continued, "Actually, all of us could probably use new shoes. Nobody wanted the gatherers to take extra risks trying to bring things like that back, so our shoes are getting worn down..."

"Of course, we could ask. It doesn't hurt to ask!" Zaria pasted on a polite smile and waited for the boys to lead the way before the rest of the group followed them out. Gu Cheng closed the door behind him, and she spun around as her mind caught up. "Wait, do we have a key?"

"A key? Oh no..." He met her eyes and reached back for the door knob, twisting it a few times to show that it was really locked.

"Gu Cheng!!" Zaria looked around frantically as though one would appear in the air, narrowing her eyes when she caught the edge of his lips curving up slightly. "Gu Cheng..."

He held up a stick as long as his pointer finger and twice as wide, the end capped in a shining silver plate shaped into an octagon. "Cathy gave it to me last night before leaving. I have not tried it to see if it works, but I am sure we will figure it out."

"Oh...you...you..." She narrowed her eyes at him, irritated that he made her worry, but unable to keep from smiling at his playfulness. "You suck."

A soft chuckle followed her down the stairs to where the others were waiting just outside the front door. Three sets of eyes tried to peer around her to see where the sound was coming from, but Gu Cheng was once again calm and cool when he walked out onto the stoop. He gestured to the others to continue down the steps, sneaking a kiss onto Zaria's cheek before scooting past her to follow them.

"You!"

"Are you coming, Joseph Zaria?"

"Oh, you are just full of sass today, aren't you, Mr. Gu?" Despite her contradictory tone, she felt her cheeks pushing upward with her smile.

As they were waiting at the curb for traffic to stop so that they could cross the road, a small box shaped vehicle pulled up in front of them. A now familiar figure stepped out of the driver side, a large rounded belly leading the way.

"What wonderful timing! I was just coming to check how you are doing! I see everyone's coats fit. That's splendid. And they look so cheerful!"

"Yes, they do," Zaria responded, smiling sweetly up at Gu Cheng. "So bright!"

"I thought you might like them! One of the Anis designers was trying to push for dark browns and blacks this winter, but thankfully, they were voted down." She shivered delicately inside her own chartreuse colored peacoat. "Are you going to go visit the park? Would you mind if I went with you?"

Zaria looked at each of her friends in turn before nodding their acceptance. "Are you sure you are alright for a walk? I don't want you to feel you have to exert yourself, I can head back upstairs to talk with you instead if you would rather."

"Sparkles, no! I am supposed to be out and walking every day, but I have to sneak my times in because a certain soon to be father is far too protective." She laughed, the high and sweet sound bring a smile to a few faces. "I would be delighted to go with you. Shall we?"